8-year-old boy breaks chess record after beating Polish grandmaster

Indian chess prodigy Ashwath Kaushik has broken the record for youngest player to take down a Grandmasters and he is the second player to push back the age of the record this year.

Chess has a long history of many long-standing records that are still being broken to this day. Thanks to modern tools like AI and chess bots, players can understand the game at a younger age than ever before.

Because of this, younger and younger players are taking on some of the best chess players in the world and winning games off of them.

In 2024, that trend is continuing as Ashwatch Kaushik, an eight-year-old chess player from India, has broken the record of the youngest player to beat a Grand Master. He accomplished the feat just months after fellow eight-year-old chess prodigy, Leonid Ivanociv, broke the record under nine years of age.

Youngest player ever to beat a GM

Kaushik is eight years, six months, and 11 days old and took down Polish grandmaster Jacek Stopa at the 22nd Burgdorfer Stadthaus Open in Switzerland.

The youngster placed 12th in the classical chess tournament, eventually losing to International Master Harry Grieve.

According to a report by Chess.com, the player has been living in Singapore for the past six years and has been competing since he was six years old. The report also said Kaushik learned the game at four years old so he could play with his grandparents.

“It felt really exciting and amazing, and I felt proud of my game and how I played, especially since I was worse at one point but managed to come back from that,” the player told Chess.com

After his success in the Swiss event, Kaushik has an 1892 standard rating according to the International Chess Federation and is ranked 37,338th in the world.